Blue Moon, without a dream in my heart…

21 December 2009: In his briefing to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on the outcome of the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon identified a number of tasks that the international community should now undertake.

First, he urged “all Governments to formally sign on to the Copenhagen Accord by registering their support through the UNFCCC.”

Second, he said the commitments enshrined in the Copenhagen Accord should be converted into a legally binding climate change treaty as soon as possible in 2010.

Third, he called for the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund to become fully operational as soon as possible. In this context, he said he will engage the UN system to immediately start to support countries in their mitigation and adaptation efforts and to support climate resilience and clean energy growth in developing countries.

Fourth, he urged all countries to implement their commitments while the legally binding agreement is being developed. He said all actors must “look to what more we can do between now and the UN Climate Change Conference in Mexico” at the end of 2010, suggested examining the lessons of the Copenhagen Conference and considering how to improve the negotiations process, and called for encompassing “the full context of climate change and development in the negotiations, both substantively and institutionally.” He said he will establish, in early 2010, a high-level panel on development and climate change to address such issues.

Fifth, we should all grow up and stop using displacement mechanisms to ignore our impending but still avoidable (perhaps) immolation.